'The middle order was tested' – Dhoni

Everything is working like a charm for India in the World T20. Theywere able to do in their first three games what they like doing- winthe toss, bowl, and restrict the opposition to a moderate target. Witha semi-final spot earned after three successive wins, they wanted tobat first in their final group match against Australia. So GeorgeBailey won the toss and asked India to do exactly that.The top order had done most of the batting in the first three games,so India wanted the middle order, especially Yuvraj Singh, to betested ahead of the knockouts. So Australia reduced them to 66 for 4.Yuvraj was not one of those four, and in the familiar company of MSDhoni, revived India to 159 for 7, rediscovering his touch on way tomaking 60 off 43. No wonder Dhoni was pleased at the workout hisbatsmen, especially Yuvraj, got against Australia and felt theexperience would help them in case they needed to set a target in theknockouts.”We wanted to bat first in this game,” Dhoni said. “Once we lost thetoss it wasn’t really in our control. Overall very happy that we wereable to bat first and set the target. The middle order was tested.After we lost a couple of wickets, the ball wasn’t really coming offthe wicket, so it was slightly difficult for the batsmen to freelyrotate. That’s the kind of scenario that we may encounter in thecoming game.”There was no dew at all because of which the ball was gripping evenmore because of which shot-making wasn’t easy at all. In thissituation, 140-145 is a very good score. When you have 145 in mind andmove forward and you have good batsmen in your side, then you end upwith 155-160. In these wickets, 10-15 runs is a lot. I think we hadthe right approach because of which we could get nearly 160.”Because the wickets are on the slower side and at times you tend tolook at may be 160 is still a good score (to defend), you need toaccelerate and you lose too many and you end up getting 130. I thinkin the middle period Yuvraj batted really well. He gave himself time.It was an ideal opportunity for him to see through the initial 10-15deliveries and we all know the kind of batting line-up we have. Anyonewho eats up the deliveries initially and stays till the end, he makesmuch more than the balls he faces. That’s a big positive for us andoverall the whole batting line-up got a bit of batting.”